Asifur Rahman

Power generation companies, including rental ones, may see an end to a zero-duty benefit on their import of machinery, equipment and spare parts from next fiscal year as the government moves towards generating more revenue curtailing the practice of handing out tax exemptions.

The government is set to increase budget allocation for quick completion of the Rooppur nuclear and Matarbari coal-fired power plant projects.

Bangladesh can reduce its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports by 21 percent and save $460 million a year by replacing ageing, inefficient industrial captive power generators with more efficient models and harnessing the waste heat produced by generators for other applications, says a study.

Analysing data from 73 gas-fired captive generators at 51 industries with a combined capacity of around 250 megawatts (MW), the IEEFA said the average efficiency of these generators is only 35.38 percent

Amid the crisis of dollars, the next Annual Development Programme will have a record Tk 1 lakh crore allocation from foreign funds.

The Finance Division last week disbursed Tk 1,500 crore in subsidy against the power ministry’s demand for the immediate release of Tk 3,000 crore to boost electricity supply during the summer months.

The global liquefied natural gas supply capacity will increase drastically in future and the prices will stay low, but Bangladesh is not likely to reap the benefit due to fiscal challenges, according to a global report.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the rural areas have been subjected to hours of power outage despite record-setting generation of electricity over the last few days.

As per the new formula, the price of jet fuel will be calculated each month by adding the average rate quoted by the Platts Asia Pacific/Arab Gulf (APAG) Marketscan for the preceding month with other expenses.

Power supply to households remains largely stable nationwide, as many energy-intensive sources such as mills, factories, offices, and shopping malls are yet to reopen following the Eid holidays.

With the weather getting warmer, power crisis is growing across the country and some rural areas have been experiencing prolonged loadshedding since last week.

The government built two compressor stations in 2016 to supply gas at adequate pressure to different districts, but the expensive machinery has been underutilised due to inadequate gas flow.

Bangladesh’s access to cheap loans is closing in with its rising per capita income, making foreign borrowing costlier.

Bangladesh will end up with surplus LNG regasification capacity by the end of this decade, said the UK-based BMI Research -- a development that will ultimately cost the exchequer in fees similar to capacity charges for power plants.

The government is likely to stop new gas connections to industries save for eight “economically vital” ones under a forthcoming regulation.

The government is continuing to ramp up the power generation capacity even though the electricity demand did not increase as per projection, putting an additional price burden on consumers, said energy experts.

Gas scarcity is likely to continue till April despite the government’s repeated assurance of scaling up gas supply during Ramadan and the irrigation season as one of the two Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU) will take longer to complete maintenance works.

Petrobangla yesterday floated the offshore bidding tender inviting international oil and gas companies (IOCs) to explore Bangladesh’s maritime area in the Bay of Bengal.

Mymensingh and Cumilla cities go to polls today to pick their mayors and councillors, just two months after the Awami League formed a new government.

The government is going to start implementing the newly-formulated mechanism for setting fuel prices in line with global market rates by the end of this month and officials of the energy and finance division believe prices may reduce after the first adjustment.